Mail Love and Surprises

Are you ready for a little mail madness? Here are pics of the packages I'm sending out!

I reused a stack of boxes I'd gotten back around Christmas

And The Winners Are...

Iyah the Wallflower and Kon the Daydream Believer!!

Thank you to everyone who took the time and effort to enter my mini contest, and thank you to everyone who voted! On my end, it was a lot of fun to read all of your creative entries and also to get to know a little bit more about you beautiful girls! You put my own little blurb to shame, easily. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the voting poll had over 100 votes (I have no idea how much traffic comes through my blog except for those who leave comments) and that the poll and I actually agreed! (So don't think it was a popularity contest.)

Iyah sent me her blurb the first night that I'd posted the mini contest! Wow, I couldn't believe it was that fast and easy for her, and she even claimed to have always been bad in English class! Her blurb was very sweet, I would have never thought of this sweetheart as a wallflower in the background, and the timing of her twist and ending were perfect, very much like the Too Faced Quickie Chronicles that I had posted as examples of the fun style I was looking for.

The Wallflower

Iyah
http://withadriyah.blogspot.com/

She was the girl who's always been at the background. Did you notice her? Many will say no.
The girl who had a lot of insecurities in life, always been so conscious about herself.
Always been thinking she will never be pretty like her mother. Girls made fun of her, guys laughed at her.
But now, everything changed. Shyness in her disappeared. They laughed at her, she laughed with them.
Are you ready? Because she's here! Indeed a flower, but not meant on the wall.

When I first received Kon's entry, first I knew nothing about her since she was new to blogging, but once I read her blurb, I knew it was a winner! Not only because I'm a daydreamer and bookworm also, but blurb really captured the magical effect of reading and daydreaming, as well as has that fun and lighthearted tone that made her writing so enjoyable to read. Also, like Iyah's, the ending was just perfect!

The Daydream Believer

Kon
http://kurohanakon.blogspot.com

Every book was a different world; libraries were galaxies. That silly girl, that Daydream Believer, loved novels like princesses loved their princes. Each page turned was a different place, a different life; who could get enough? Not she, never ever! Her every thought was a dream, an adventure. Every waking moment was the same as every night spent asleep. She dreamt of que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be. Maybe she should pull her head out of the clouds and keep those feet on the ground―who knows when her real Prince Charming will come by! Knowing this girl, though, she probably won't even notice, not with that face buried in those books…she'll just pass him by!

I've been rounding up goodies and will have them in the mail either tomorrow or Friday, so you girls will be getting your prizes sometime next week! Thanks again and congratulations!!

Japanese Goodies TEASER and More Camera Whoring

I had the pleasure of hitting up Mitsuwa, Kinokuniya, and Mitsuwa (dif location) this week. I am biased but I believe I live by the best Mitsuwa (Torrance), and I also happen to live between two Mitsuwas, woot woot! (Torrance/South Bay and Costa Mesa/OC).

I've been itching to go to Japanese stores but waiting until my contest ended so I could pick up prizes and surprise goodies to send out (although voting is still going on! so please vote if you haven't already). I reallllllllllllllllly want to post what I bought BUT I want everything to be a surprise for everyone...so instead, I'll just post teaser pics of my Mitsuwas and Kinokuniya (I didn't photograph everything so they really are teasers). For all of you Japanese products & magazine junkies, enjoy!!

First stop, the Fits Sexy Girl display...

"The Quickie" Contestants!! Please VOTE

Thank you to each and every one of you lovely ladies for entering my "The Quickie" Mini Contest!! This mini contest is based first and foremost on the BLURB submitted (creativity and style but overall just a damn LOVELY blurb), not the pictures. So please take the time to vote for your FAVORITE by using the poll to the right! While I will consider the results of the voting poll, I will make the final decision. There will be more than one winner! Thanks for entering and thanks in advance for voting!

Drugstore Luck and My Paperchase...

I went to Rite-Aid and got lucky! (Not that kind of lucky...) I noticed that the Physician's Formula makeup was Buy One Get One 50% Off...and at this particular location, they had a bunch of items with Last Chance Sale stickers on them for 75% off! The items I was most interested in didn't have the sale stickers, but a few of the Mineral Wear Liquid Foundations did! However, only certain shades did (not yours, Yume-chan, sowwie)...they were only for Fair Natural, Nude Beige, Creamy Beige and Sand Beige. So instead of being $11.95, they were $3!

I had the usual indecisive-Diana dilemma...I grabbed the last Nude Beige...then saw Creamy Beige...hmmm! hahaha Long story short, the Creamy Beige looked slightly darker with a yellow undertone and the Nude Beige looked slighter lighter with pink undertones, but when worn, Creamy Beige was too light and Nude Beige blended in better for me. Whew! (Girl dilemmas, I tell ya.)

Looming Contest Deadline, Poupee Lucky Bags, and Prize Pics!

This is the last weekend until my contest deadline! Next week, I will post all of the entries and a voting poll to see what all of the ladies think...although ultimately, the decision is mine and it's holistic scoring (no points breakdown).

Thanks to Yume-chan and Yasumi (how cute was your outfit and comment yesterday!), I've become addicted to Poupee Girl...you should all join (Tia and Fuz already have)! Poupee is French for doll, and on the website you create a character and earn ribbons by posting your pictures of your fashion and beauty items so that you can buy dress up items for your Poupee. Right now, they have special lucky bags (fukubukuro...a New Year's surprise bag that has up to double the retail value inside, I learned this from Yume-chan) for your Poupee Girls! Too cute...I've whored out my beauty and fashion products to earn lots of ribbons for the lucky bags, ahahaha.

Goodies in the Mail and ABDC!!

Soooo what's this surprise I saw from my mailbox earlier this week?

The lovely Linda from My Pretty Pink Box sent me another Tu Bella full size perfume! She read my blog that I'd gotten a full size in the same scent that I'd gotten in a previous pink box, and she was such a doll to send me another one! This one smells like the Vanilla Cream, I love warm vanilla scents! So for all you ladies who worried that if you buy pink boxes you might get the same thing more than once, Linda really takes care of us customers! Thank you so much, Linda!!

MAC Hello Kitty, Kracie Hadabisei Mask, and Mini Contest Deadline Extension!

Ahh I don't do well with these damn online 3-day sales. As you know the MAC 25% off everything sale (except Viva Glam) expired Thursday night at 11:59 p.m. EST (or 8:59 p.m. PST). When the sale started two nights ago, I first filled my shopping bag with everything and anything I might want to buy...I quickly filled it up to $503 ($500 is the online limit). Then surely enough, items were sold out and removed from my bag until two items were left this morning (haha). Most of the brushes I had my eyes on were sold out...until Thursday night, I noticed after 8 p.m. that all of the previously sold out items were now marked "temporarily out-of-stock" and could be placed in my shopping bag again. So went the mad dash, and as I typed my damn info to order, the seconds passed and the code expired...HA HA! Similar thing had happened back in November with the Sephora F&F Sale. Online 3-day sales=too much pressure, damnit. =)

Visee Jewel Crush Eyes and MAC F&F 25% Sale!

Starting the new year off with a new makeup love is just lovely, isn't it? This past weekend I had the chance to try the Visee Jewel Crush Eyes palette in E-5 that I'd gotten in my swap with Yume-chan.

I never used a review format before but I'm going to try, starting now!

Book Swapping

It was so sweet of you ladies to comment on my last post about books! Amanda brought up an idea that I decided to run with. She said "I wonder if there's a book swap site out there where people can swap books just like there's makeupalley for those people that swap makeup."

I remembered I met a girl last year who said she was a member of some website where she swapped books! At the time, I thought it sounded like a dorky online version of going to the library or buying cheap used books (yes, I can be such snob, can't I?) so I didn't give it a second thought until now. My book collection has grown like wildflowers in my room, not just from my own handpicked beloved selection and books from college courses, but also books people gave me, books I don't have a need for anymore (like CBEST prep and computer books), and books that I've outgrown (that were fun reads for me five years ago but silly for me to have now).

Well, I immediately googled "book swap" and tons of links appeared! I went with the top three that I noticed (smart enough to pay for advertising or smart SEO and marketing), which were PaperBackSwap.com, Bookins.com, and SwapTree.com.